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Image Tutorial
Overview So you've begun your journey on the trip through OMA. You've created the character and have thought about your first posts, but are you go through the board you realise that there are images everywhere. Within this tutorial, the different types of images will be discussed in further detail and the instructions on how to obtain, upload and put them onto the site is explained. Errors, common mistakes and other things that might wrong will also be addressed as well as recommendations for where to turn to for help. The main types of images that will be discussed are the three that pertain to each individuals character (Avatar, Signature and Personal Picture) and the option of putting images within the posts on the main board. Please, if you feel that this has not been explained fully, please do not hesitate to edit in queries or ask for further assistance. If you are struggling for assistance, please feel free to PM any of the staff members for extra help. Avatars Avatars. Icons. The pretty square in the corner. This image is referred to by several names but essentially means the same thing. The avatar of a character is located in the top of the left side panel of a person's post, directly beneath their character's name. Whilst usually handler's tend to use this to depict their character's face, others many choose to use their avatar to depict something close to or important to the character themselves. Things like this are usually of their animagus form or an heirloom that they are using within role play. It is usually polite to keep these avatars directed towards the characters themselves as it helps with people who are new to the board or who are trying to search out new friends to role play with to discover more about your character. About the Avatar The Avatar themselves can only be 100x100 pixels in size. This is standard across many forums and the current settings upon the board as set by the administrators will resize any image to fit within the parameters or less. A typical avatar is 100x100 pixels. There are three separate ways to get an avatar on the board, all of them readily available however the image must be pre-made. Uploading an Avatar There are two ways of uploading an avatar to the board. Firstly, you will need to access your settings, which are located in a drop down menu under your character name in either the top left or the top right hand corner below the site header. This will then take you to a seperate screen which will allow you to change your image settings. Secondly, you will see in the new 'your options' panel along the top the word 'profile'. By clicking on this, you will be able to locate the necessary options for changing your avatar. Thirdly, on the side panel under this new tab you will locate the highlighted option of changing your avatar. You will need to click on this to open the uploading options to add your avatar to the board. There are two options to add your avatar to the boad, the first is by uploading your avatar on an external site such as photobucket. This will allow you to add a URL to the second box on the avatar settings. The second option allows you to upload an image directly from the computer. To do this you will need to use the browse button located next to the first window and find the file your avatar is located under. Keep in mind size restrictions when you do so. Lastly, click 'save changes' at the bottom of the avatar screen to upload your avatar. This will refresh and show you the avatar for approval. Congratulations you have now uploaded an avatar to the website. Signatures Welcome to probably one of the most important images that you will upload. This is the signature section of the tutorial in which you will learn how to place the image that is shown at the bottom of every post and in the centre of your profile page when people visit. Usually depicting the character's face and their personality, along with their full name or a quote of their choice, many people choose to place a signature to represent their character on the site. About the Signature: The signature is the bottom image in any post. It usually depicts the name, the character face or characteristics of their chosen character. The current OMA regulations state that all signatures must be 500x200 in size or less. There are a number of sizes that are able to be used and no one is particularly common. As you trawl through the board, you will note several people with different size of signatures, the way to check their own size is to right click on the image, and go to properties where you will see a screen similar to the one on the left. This will give you a better idea of the sizing requirements of the board. Uploading a Signature To upload a signature, you will need to navigate to the profile settings of your character. (Following the above steps in the avatar section). Here you will find on the side bar the option to 'change your signature as seen below. By clicking this, you will be then taken to another screen where you will be able to input your settings to change your signature. A large square will now appear in the centre of your screen, looking much like the fast reply box. Here you will need to include BB code and the URL of your uploaded signature. (See below for photobucket help) To insert your signature you will need the following code. img*the url of your image*/img ''' After you have inserted your signature code, you will need to click the highlighted button and voila your signature is now uploaded to the website and will be available for all to be able to see. A - Area in which you will need to input your coding and credit to who made the signature. B - The save changes button to allow the changes to be taken by the board and the image to be seen. '''Sizing Guide: Below you will see three of the basic sizes commonly used on the website. Personal Pics And so we come to the last of the three images used to depict a character. Unlike the Avatar and the Signature, the personal pic does not always depict the character's face and may include something about the character, a slogan, or an image that assists with giving an impression about the character. As per OMA guidelines no actual personal pictures are allowed to be uploaded. '''This means that you cannot use a photo of yourself, or something that could be used to identify yourself like your college logo etc. Personal pics are used for your characters not for yourself and you may find that your pic is removed if it breeches the above guidelines. '''About the Personal Pic: This is located in the profile of a character and is also used when depicted the member on the member list or in the previous visitors on another member's page. It is typically 150x150 pixels in size or less. Due to board settings, any image larter than this will be resized automatically. There is only one way to upload a personal pic as seen below. Uploading a Personal Pic To change your personal pic which will be seen by the board with the online list, you will need to navigate to your profile options which is detailed in the avatar settings section. Once you have located this panel you will see the following side panel available to you. By clicking on the highlighted option you will then be taken to another screen which will allow you to change your profile picture. After you have located the changing of personal pic, you will see the following screen appear in the centre of your computer with box A requesting you to upload directly from your computer. You will need to ensure that you have your personal pic saved to your computer to allow you to do this. Once you have searched and located the image, you will then need to click on section B and congratulations, you have now uploaded a personal picture. Images within Posts Especially with the threads that take place outside of London or the United Kingdom, members are allowed to be able to upload images to allow readers to fully realise where they are in the world and the situations that they are then in. OMA does allow images to be inserted into the posts, however there are several rules that need to be followed. Firstly, the images must be uploaded outside of the website and embedded within the post using the BB code seen above in signatures with. img*URL of image*/img Secondly, the size of the image is then to be reduced so that the loading, the cookies and the image itself doesn't take over the writing or the thread. It is to be used as a means of showing where a character is rather then explain the entire post or story to the reader. Images must be no larger then 500x500 pixel size. Sizing Guide: Disabling/Enabling Images on the board. As with everything on the board, you have a choice as to whether you see the imaged displayed by others on the board. You may enable and disable the images at any time which can help with uploading and downloading times as well as decreasing the amount of downloads you have from the board. To disable or re-enable the images on the board, please follow the following steps. Step 1: 'To enable or disable the settings on the board you will need to navigate to the forums panel, which is located under your settings as specified in the Avatar upload section. '''Step 2: ' You will see the current right hand picture within the board settings with several options of yes or no for the display settings. To enable you will need to ensure that the boxes are ticked. '''Step 3: Click the save changes button to adjust the settings on the board. Congratulations you have now successfully enabled/disabled your image settings. Uploading As throughout this tutorial, we have mentioned several times about the notion of uploading. This is where images are saved to the internet through an external hosting site and are able to be accessed through a given URL. The most recommended and easiest to use and maintain is Photobucket which is a free website with a single sign up and allows you to host multiple pictures under the one name and organise into several albums. This is however not a tutorial on photobucket but the basics of the uploading section is located here. When first entering photobucket for the first time you will notice a big blue button as located to the left. If you click on this a window will appear in which you will select your required image. The image will then begin the download process as indicated by a bar as to the right. When this reaches one hundred percent it will reload as an 'edit tags' page of which you can either choose to add tags or ignore. After you have completed the above process, you will see your image like to the left. If you place your cursor over the image the following URL's will become available and the highlighted one is the one that you will require and is often the most used. It is this that you will place between the BB Code. And that is how you upload an image to an external host. FAQ My Avatar was recently changed but it won't show up? When you upload an image to the site, your computer keeps what is known as temporary files '' to the computer including the avatar you have just uploaded. This is so it doesn't have to download it every time and saves on the time it takes to load the site up for you. A good thing except that it doesn't often realise that you've changed the avatar until you force it to reset what it has saved. To do this you will need to either clear your cookies by pressing the refresh button or clearing your cache. '''I can't get my signature to load?' Have you ensured that you are using the correct image tags (img and /img), have you uploaded the image to the correct place or using the full URL? Try closing the browser and reopening if you have ensured that everything is correct. Do I need to credit? YES if the signature was not made by you, then you need to credit the maker. Even if it's a friend, or a signature that you found, you must have a credit in there. They have put in work and time and effort to make it pretty, so please credit. This also includes anything like personal pics or avatars. Everything must be credited. I can't make signatures, can somebody else do it? Of course. We have some talented people on the board that are able to make signatures. You'll find them in several ways, through the credits on people's signatures, through our Off Topic forum (link is in the side panel) or by merely looking a centimetre below. Currently known or acknowledged graphic makers include: Allisandre Mylian Ben Dorian Dainton McInnis Lanie Blackstone Naomi Lowe Noelle Lowe Riley Bennett PImage Tutorial